By Mike McGraw
Executive Director
ELNORA – In a Dec. 13 precursor to the Class A Sectional 63 championship game, Vincennes Rivet squashed North Daviess by 18 points, 57-39. A couple of weeks later, the Cougars also were destroyed by South Knox 63-41.
That was when coach Brent Dalrymple went back to the drawing board, deciding to change the way North Daviess played. He slowed the Cougars down, putting an emphasis on ball control and a new matchup zone. On March 9, the two changes paid the ultimate dividend – a sectional championship – as the seventh-ranked Cougars downed No. 8 Rivet 51-45 to claim the title.
Dalrymple acknowledged after the game that in order to be successful playing the way his team currently is, you have to put a premium on getting early leads. It is always easier to control tempo when you are playing from in front, and that is exactly what North Daviess (19-5) did in Monday evening’s game rescheduled due to Rivet’s girls playing in the state finals March 7.
The Cougars jumped to a 6-2 advantage and never looked back. They led 15-13 at the end of one quarter, having used the style to perfection (North Daviess shot 6 of 9 in the quarter). It was a trend that would continue throughout the game.
The second period offered little variation as North Daviess hit four of eight shots from the field and took a 24-19 lead into intermission. There was, however, a hint of what would become a major factor down the stretch: Rivet’s inability to hit free throws. The Patriots were just 4 of 8 from the stripe in the opening two quarters.
The Cougars’ matchup zone continued to give Rivet (18-6) trouble in the second half, and it nearly blew the game open in the third quarter. North Daviess used 5-of-8 sniping in the period to build a 37-30 lead at the end of three stanzas. Meanwhile, Rivet struggled to find the range from long distance, a weapon the Patriots had used successfully all year.
For the evening. Rivet was just 2 of 16 from behind the 3-point arc.
Keep in mind this was Sectional 63, always among the toughest in 1A. It contained a field of three ranked teams, plus a whole lot of rivalry. You knew things would find a way of getting close down the stretch of the championship tilt, and it took little time in the fourth quarter for the fireworks to begin.
Rivet scored on its first possession. Then, after forcing a Cougar turnover and blocking a subsequent shot attempt, the Patriots converted an old-fashioned three-point play. Suddenly it was 37-35.
North Daviess struggled to maintain control, and the score eventually reached 41-39 in favor of the Cougars. Rivet had two chances to tie or take the lead but failed on both, the drought lasting long enough for North Daviess to build the lead back to seven at 46-39.
At that point, Rivet was forced to begin fouling. That’s when things got a little surreal.
In that fourth period, North Daviess was sent to the charity stripe 24 times (the Cougars took just two shots from the field in the final period, hitting one). That means that for the night, the Cougars shot a steamy 59 percent on 16-of-27 accuracy from the floor.
But the black-clad hosts managed to sink only 12 of those 24 free throw attempts. That left Rivet in the game until the very final seconds. It took most of the quarter to get back to striking distance, but in the final two minutes the Patriots closed to within three on two occasions.
Neither time, however, did the Cougars allow them closer. North Daviess hit one of two charity tosses to take the lead to 48-44, then two more tosses to expand it to 50-45.
The final possession for Rivet was a microcosm of the game. The Patriots got two looks from beyond the arc but could connect on neither.
With the win, North Daviess advances to Regional 16 at Loogootee, where the Cougars will face Tecumseh (16-8) in the day’s first semifinal March 14. The winner will challenge either No. 11 Borden (18-5) or Northeast Dubois (14-9) Saturday night for a March 21 semistate berth.
We would be remiss if we did not mention a couple of other things connected to this contest. First, North Daviess had advanced to the championship under a cloud of controversy. The Cougars beat fifth-ranked Barr-Reeve, 50-49, in Friday’s semifinals when a 3-point shot at the buzzer by the Vikings was ruled as having been too late.
Video replays of the shot (click here) show it was clearly in the air before the buzzer. To the credit of Cougar fans, we did not speak to a single fan who did not agree that it had been an incorrect call and that they were lucky to be in the championship tilt.
Secondly, it was a tremendous 48 hours for Vincennes Rivet basketball. The Patriot girls played in an overtime thriller against defending 1A state champion Fort Wayne Canterbury in the state finals on Saturday, and the boys were striving for the first sectional crown in school history Monday night.
Rivet lost both contests, but it was a heck of an accomplishment for a school with a total of 92 students.
63. North Daviess Sectional
Game 1: North Daviess 57, Loogootee 47
Game 2: Vincennes Rivet 61, Washington Catholic 34
Game 3: North Daviess 50, Barr-Reeve 49
Game 4: Vincennes Rivet 66, Shoals 32
Championship: North Daviess 51, Vincennes Rivet 45
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